[luftfluss]

Nikon's Q2 financials show better-than-expected revenue, profit for imaging division: Digital Photography Review

Nikon has released its financial results for the second quarter (Q2) of its 2023 fiscal year (FY2023). In the materials, we see the company's Imaging Products Business bringing in more revenue than it projected last quarter and further increasing its full-year revenue forecast as supply constraints ease and mirrorless cameras continue to sell.

So far, in the first half (H1) of the company's FY2023, Nikon's Imaging Products Business has seen revenue of 114.5B yen and an operating profit of 22.2B yen. Those are increases of 28.4% and 77.6%, respectively, compared to the first half (H1) of Nikon's 2022 fiscal year (FY2022).

[PJvE]

Do I miss something? The year 2023 is yet to come.

[beholder3]

Nikon's Q2 financials show better-than-expected revenue, profit for imaging division: Digital Photography Review

Since the Japanese yen has been nosediving in value the statements made are at least misleading.
US Dollar to Japanese Yen Exchange Rate Chart | Xe

All Japanese manufacturers show great results on paper only.

Sony seems to be the only one clearly attributing numbers to paper gains based just on currency devaluations. And if you reduce that Sony's profits actually have been reduced and the revenue growth was minimal. So we are looking at stagnant performance.
And the same will apply to the others.


So for a meaningful statement one needs to take a look at the revenue and sales in USD, not yen.

[reh321]

Do I miss something? The year 2023 is yet to come.

There is no reason a fiscal year must match the calendar year. If these results are for Q2 FY23, FY23 will end sometime in the spring.

[AstroDave]

Do I miss something? The year 2023 is yet to come.

Companies often have fiscal years which differ from calendar years.

reh321 beat me to it!!

[volley]

So for a meaningful statement one needs to take a look at the revenue and sales in USD, not yen.

Why not Euro, Rubels or Chinese RMB??
It may be surprising, but there is a business world even outside of the USD ...

Nikon is a Japanese company, their currency is Yen. Also the very significant domestic market is based on Yen. Not to forget that the "fortunate" exchange rate has made sourching materials and components outside of Japan significantly more expensive.

I can't remember that anyone here or in another forum pointed towards an unfavourable exchange rate when profits went down. Then it was always a result of poor management, not understanding shrinking markets, being late to go for mirrorless etc. etc.

[beholder3]

Why not Euro, Rubels or Chinese RMB??
It may be surprising, but there is a business world even outside of the USD ...

Whatever you wish. You certainly are surprised to understand that Fuji - a Japanese company - does indeed explicitly explain the magnitude of the FX effects and they do with a good reason. They certainly dont present any numbers they do not think are required from investor perspective.

Nikon is a Japanese company, their currency is Yen. Also the very significant domestic market is based on Yen. Not to forget that the "fortunate" exchange rate has made sourching materials and components outside of Japan significantly more expensive.

The operating profits cleansed for FX effect do take all that into account.

I can't remember that anyone here or in another forum pointed towards an unfavourable exchange rate when profits went down. Then it was always a result of poor management, not understanding shrinking markets, being late to go for mirrorless etc. etc.

Simply because then FX rates were not having a big impact but certainly incompetent management did.


Today Nikon's numbers (all Japanese manufacturers) include the effect of a YoY devaluation of 30-40%, leading to both revenue and profit numbers in Yen being inflated by that amount.

I just pointed out that the pink sunglasses from the referenced article are more aimed at the gullible.

[clackers]

Yeah, good post, Luftfluss!

You can see how Nikon's camera and lens sales continue to plunge (graph below for the figures since 2019).

Since choosing to go mirrorless, Nikon are selling perhaps one quarter of the cameras they did when they sold only DSLRs.

And previous Nikon users - DSLR or MILC - are not buying lenses. That's also down to about a quarter of what it was in the third quarter of 2019. Extraordinary.

But by charging more, by going premium, ignoring entry level, they can keep their heads above the water. The yen's variability has helped, of course, as the article points out.

What a market we're living through!

What are applicable lessons for Ricoh? They will have followed these figures through recent years as part of normal corporate intel and SWOT analysis.

[clackers]

Do I miss something? The year 2023 is yet to come.

Yeah, us being into cameras means trying to understand Japanese culture.

April to April is the fiscal year.

[luftfluss]

But by charging more, by going premium, ignoring entry level, they can keep their heads above the water. The yen's variability has helped, of course, as the article points out.

Nikon hasn't entirely ignored the entry-level. The APS-C Z50 was introduced in 2019 at $860 USD and earlier this year the vlogger-oriented Z30 was introduced for $710. And, of course, the entry-level full frame Z5 came out in 2020 for $1400 (now available for $1100).

I think what Nikon has done - as Pentax did, earlier - was dispense with "loss leader" models, like the D3x00 series. Olympus/OM System, Panasonic, and Fuji seem to be following suit.

[clackers]

Nikon hasn't entirely ignored the entry-level. The APS-C Z50 was introduced in 2019 at $860 USD and earlier this year the vlogger-oriented Z30 was introduced for $710. And, of course, the entry-level full frame Z5 came out in 2020 for $1400 (now available for $1100).

I think what Nikon has done - as Pentax did, earlier - was dispense with "loss leader" models, like the D3x00 series. Olympus/OM System, Panasonic, and Fuji seem to be following suit.

I really wouldn't even call $800 USD entry level. Call me old fashioned.

Instead, that does seem to be the new minimum for a release to not actually lose money. I get that.

People are clearly not buying either the Z50 or the Z30, they've resulted in - less sales than ever before - you can see that from the graph.

Loss leaders, as you hint, are for the high volume industries like clothing, they're bad news for luxury items like cameras.

There'll be no future K-500 ($600 complete with lens), which as I think Monochrome used to point out, was almost a special basement level unit designed for the kind of Walmart set in the United States. Tokyo learnt its lesson on that one and almost dismantled its North America subsidiary, as if in punishment!

The Nikon D3100 back then was about $450.

I think the KF is interesting, then. The previous Ricoh Imaging president clearly did not believe in that end of the market at all, the new (actually a resurrected) president thinks there's still some room.

[luftfluss]

I really wouldn't even call $800 USD entry level. Call me old fashioned.

Instead, that does seem to be the new minimum for a release to not actually lose money. I get that.

People are clearly not buying either the Z50 or the Z30, they've resulted in - less sales than ever before - you can see that from the graph.

Loss leaders, as you hint, are for the high volume industries like clothing, they're bad news for luxury items like cameras.

There'll be no future K-500 ($600 complete with lens), which as I think Monochrome used to point out, was almost a special basement level unit designed for the kind of Walmart set in the United States. Tokyo learnt its lesson on that one and almost dismantled its North America subsidiary, as if in punishment!

The Nikon D3100 back then was about $450.

I think the KF is interesting, then. The previous Ricoh Imaging president clearly did not believe in that end of the market at all, the new (actually a resurrected) president thinks there's still some room.

It's pretty interesting that back in 2007 I bought my first DSLR, the K100D w/18-55 lens - but no rechargeable battery & charger, it took AA's - for USD $500-ish (but maybe $450). That's ~ $700 in today's dollars, which would be more than enough to get a new K-70 w/18-55. Of course that's some 20% short of the KF, but that camera's price, too, shall come down.

And so maybe if we look at it from that perspective - yesteryear's lower-end cameras with inflation-adjusted price comparisons - we can see that the point of entry to a good ILC hasn't escalated all that much, but there are more mid- and upper- tier models to choose from, and there is a hugely larger quantity of used gear available. Every stratum of the market is, in fact, served.

[clackers]

and there is a hugely larger quantity of used gear available

This is where I think beginners and those on a budget are actually best served.

I said on Facebook that I thought money could be saved by buying a second hand K-70 or even better, for a similar price, a secondhand K-3.

I think with Canon and Nikon moving exclusively to mirrorless, this is a great time for people to enter the EF and F mount used markets, get an unloved Nikon D7200! That and an I'm reckon soon to be discontinued Sigma 150-600 would make an affordable second body setup for a Pentaxian wanting to get into wildlife cheaply.

All that will or already has lost value because of their discontinuing announcements, their loss is our gain!

[StiffLegged]

So are Nikon doomed or not?

[RobA_Oz]

So are Nikon doomed or not?

Probably: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_death_of_the_universe